This invention relates to monitoring network traffic.
Network devices such as network protocol analyzers (also known as “packet sniffers”) are able to monitor traffic within a network from nodes of the network within the same network segment (or “broadcast domain”) as the network protocol analyzer. For example, if the network protocol analyzer is attached to a shared medium (e.g., a bus or a hub) the network protocol analyzer can receive and decode all packets that are transmitted from nodes directly connected to the shared medium including packets addressed for other nodes. In some cases, if a device such as a switch lies between the network protocol analyzer and a transmitting node, the network protocol analyzer does not receive traffic from that node.